The Palestinian Authority has started marketing houses near the Joshua Altar site, despite the fact that it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Samaria, which records an event described in the Book of Deuteronomy and the Book of Joshua.
In the case recounted in the Bible, the 12 tribes of Israel erected an altar at the site upon their entry into Israel. A few weeks ago it was announced on Channel 14 that the Israelite Authority plans to build dozens of houses on the site of the altar.
The plan is to build the houses on the ancient wall that borders the altar, which is also known by the additional name "Sandal Complex".
A patrol of the Lands Department of the Samaria Regional Council discovered that the authority has even started marketing houses in the complex, meaning that it is not a planning on paper but a systematic plan aimed at destroying the important archaeological site.
The government should intervene.
Yossi Dagan, photo: Samaria Regional Council
The head of the Samaria Council, Yossi Dagan, demands that the government immediately intervene in the PA's attempts to destroy the historical site, and demarcate it in such a way that Israelis cannot visit it.
"Just like the Western Wall"
"This is the height of insolence. The government must immediately intervene in this scandal," he told Israel Hayom.
"The Yehoshua Altar is a site of priceless historical importance, a rare relic of the settlement period. The crime is not the murderous Palestinian Authority, whose intentions are known, but of each and every government, of every official who could have stopped this hallucination and did not. History will judge The one who abandoned the historical sites of the people of Israel."
The "Keepers of the Eternal" organization also said that this was an omission.
"The law of the altar is the same as the law of the Western Wall - no less. Violating it is a war crime that may also have significance at the international level, this goes beyond the simple legal and moral obligation to protect our national heritage."
"Erasing the Jewish Connection"
Dagan clarified that immediate action must be taken to prevent the start of the works.
"The Israeli government must exercise its authority and the responsibility it also has according to international conventions for the integrity of the historical site."
He also said: "The work must be stopped, the compound closed and it declared a national park. The way previous governments conducted themselves left a vacuum into which the Palestinian Authority entered, with one goal: erasing the site and the Jewish historical connection to the place."
intends to act actively in order to preserve the archaeological site.
Defense Minister Galant, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Last week it was published in "Israel Hayom" that Galant intends to act actively in order to preserve the archaeological site.
In response to Limor member of Knesset Son Har Melech, Galant wrote that "the security system will show no tolerance for damage to archaeological sites in the Yosh area."
He noted that the civil administration officials made it clear to the Palestinian Authority that any damage to the altar would not be accepted "whenever such an action occurs, it will be responded to immediately and decisively, in accordance with the powers established by law."
The Ibal Ridge is now empty of any Jewish presence, because about two years ago the Civil Administration cleared a Jewish farm owned by Yedidia Meshulmi, a resident of Itamar, who lived on the ridge and guarded it against the Palestinian Authority's takeover.
A few months later, in the nearby village, they began to build the main road, and they looted archaeological remains from the stones of the altar wall."
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